White Sox’s Tim Anderson bumps umpire after ejection: ‘I didn’t see any contact that I know’

A rough night for the Chicago White Sox was headlined by Tim Anderson’s seventh-inning ejection after he seemed to bump an umpire after contesting a strike call. 

Anderson and manager Tony La Russa were thrown out of Friday night’s 7-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics after a heated argument following a strike call that appeared to be high. 

Anderson let home plate umpire Nick Mahrley know how he felt, prompting the ejection. But what followed next could lead to a lengthy suspension from Major League Baseball. 

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“I don’t think Tim cursed him or anything,” La Russa explained after the game. “If you don’t allow a player to be emotional, (and) you have a bunch of robots out here playing, that’s not entertaining.

“That at-bat, I thought the pitches were questionable. He got upset,” he continued. “I think you need to allow players to spark, as long as they don’t cross a line. And that thing escalated before Tim did anything. He’s fired up. That’s the way he plays. That’s the way you’re supposed to play.”

Mahrley seemed to motion that Anderson made contact with him during the verbal altercation, but La Russa saw it differently. 

“I know I think I saw the umpire moving forward quite a bit, which they’re taught not to do that,” La Russa said. “I didn’t see any contact that I know.”

Trailing 5-3 at the time, Chicago allowed two more runs and lost its second straight to fall below .500 (49-50).

The Associated Press contributed to this report.